Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-07-23

lived and died.
But now fresh terror stared us in the face.
It may be remembered that, owing TO poor
Jobs fear and awkwnrdneSs, the plank upon
which we had crossed from the hugo spur to
the rocking stone had been whirled or into
the gulf below
How were we to cross without the planki
There was only ono answer--we must try
and jump 1t, or else stop where we were till
we starved The distance In itself was not
very great-between eleven and twelve feet
| should think-and have seen Leo jump
over nineteen feet when he was young fell
low at college; but then, think of the condi-
tons. Two weary, worn out men, one OF
them the wrong side of 40, rocking stone to
take Off from, trembling point ef rock some
few feet across TO land on, and hottomless
gull TO DO cleared in a raging gale. 1t was
bad enough, God knows, but when pointed
out these things to Leo, he put the whole
matter in nutshell by replying that, mercl-
less as the choice was, we must choose be-
tween the certainty of lingering death in
the chamber and tho risk OF swift one in the
air. or course there was no arguing against
this, but one thing was clear, we could not
attempt that leap in the dark; the only thing
to do was to wait for the ray of light which
pierced through the gulf at sunset. How
near to or no Y far from sunset we might DO
neither of us had the faintest notion; all we
did know was that when at last the light
came it would not endure more than a couple
of minutes at the outside, so that we must be
prepared to meet it. Accordingly, we made
up our minds TO creep on to the top of the
rocking stone and lie there In readiness We
were the more readily reconciled TO this
course by tho fact that our lamps were once
more nearly exhausted-indeed, one had gone
out bodily, and the other was jumping up
and down. as the flame Of lamp does when
the oil is done. So by tho aid of its dying
light we fastened to crawl out of tho little
chamber and Chamber up the side Of the great
stone.
As we did so the light went out
The difference in our position was suffi-
GENTLY remarkable one. Below, in the little
chamber, we had only heard the roaring Of
the gale overhead; here, lying on our faces
on the swinging stone, we were exposed to
its full force and fury, as the great draught
drew first from this direction and then from
that, bowling against the mighty precipice
and through the rocky cliffs like 10000 de-
spairing souls We lay there hour after hour
in terror and misery Of mind so deep that
will not attempt to describe it, and listened
to the wild storm voices OF that Tartarus as
set to the deep undertone of the spur oppo-
site, against which the wind hummed like
some awful harp, they called to each other
from precipice to precipice No nightmare
dreamed by man, no wild invention Of the
romancer, can ever equal the living horror OF
that place and the weird crying Of those
voices OF the night as we lay, like ship
wrecked mariners on raft, and tossed on 8
black, unfathomed wilderness OF air. Fortrs
nately the temperature was not low ono /.
indeed, the wind was warm, or we shorld
have persisted. Well, we lay and listened,
and while we still were stretched out upon
the rock thing happened that was SO curl
GUS and suggestive In itself, though doubtless
1t was q mere coincidence, that, IL anything
1t added to rather than deducted from the
burden OF our nerves.
1t will be remembered that when Ayesha
was standing on the spur, before we crossed
to the stone, the wind tore her cloak from her
and whirled 1t away into the darkness Of the
gulf, we could not SEQ whittier. Well
hardly like to tell the story, 1t is so strange
as We lay there upon the rocking stone, this
very cloak came floating out OF the black
space, like memory from the dead, and fell
on Leo so that it covered him nearly from
head TO foot. We could not at first MAKE
| out what it was but soon discovered by it,
feel, and then poor Leo for the first time gave
| way and heard him sobbing there upon the
stone. No doubt the cloak had been caught
| upon some pinnacle of the cliff, and wa.
thence blown hither by chance gust; bu
still it was most curious and touching Incl
| dent
Shortly after this, suddenly, without til,
slightest previous warning, the great rec
knife OF light came stabbing the darknes.
through and through, struck the swayinf
! stone on which we lay and rested its sharJ
| point upon the spur opposite.
"Now for it," said Leo, snow or never"
We rose and stretched ourselves, and looked
at the cloud wreaths stained tho color O.
blood by that red ray as they tore through
tbo s;o - AZ
| empty space between the swaying stone anC
the quivering rock, and in our hearts DIES
paired and prepared for death. Surely w
| could not clear it, desperate though we were
/ "Who is to go firstN said l.
"Do you, old fellow" answered Leo. 81 viii
sit upon the other side Of the stone to stead,
it You must take as much run as you cal
end jump high; and God have mercy OF
As, say In
acquiesced with a nod, and then did ,
thing had never done since Leo was a littl,
boy. turned and put my arm round hin
ind kissed him OH the forehead. 1t sounds
| rather French, but as a fact was taking my
last farewell of a man whom could not have
loved more If lie had been my own son twic.
over.
"Good by, my boy" said, II hope that W.
Shall meet again, wherever it Is that we go to. )
The fact was | did not expect to live an
|
Next / retreated to the far side of the rock
and waited till one of the chopping gusts Of
| wind got behind me, and then commendinl
my soul to God, ran the length of the huge
stone, some three or four and thirty feet anC
sprung wildly out into the dizzy dir. Oh
the sicl;ening terrors that felt as launched
myself at that little point of rock, and th,
horrible sense of despair that shot through
my brain as l realized that had jumped
short But so it was; my feet never touched
! the point; they went down into space; only
my hands and body came in contact with it
gripped at it with yell, but one hand slip
ped and swung right round, holding by tbt
other so that faced the stone from which
had sprung. Wildly ! stretched up with my
left hand, and this time managed to grasp
knob of rock, and there l hung in the flerc,
red light, with thousands of feet of empty all
beneath mo- My hands were holding Il
| either side Of the under part Of the spur, 81
that its point was touching my head. There
fore even If could have found the strength
could not pull myself up. The most that
could do would be to hang for about min
ute, and then drop down, down into the bot
tomless pit. II any man can imagine NOR
hideous position, let him speak. / felt the spul
above me shake beneath the shock of his i'm
pact, and as it did so saw the huge rocking
stone, that had been violently depressed b,
him as he sprung, fly back when relieved o
his weight till, for the first time during al
these centuries, it got beyond its balance, an,
fell with most awful crash right into tn
rocky chamber, which had once served tn
philosopher Moot for hermitage, as hav
no doubt, forever Theoretically sealing tn